Title

Reaction Time

Problem Scenario

The reason why I chose to do this project was because of the on going feud between boys and girls about whose the better athlete?

Broad Question

Who's the better athlete, boy or girl?

Specific Question

Does gender effect reaction time?

Hypothesis

I hypothesis that girls have faster reaction time.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Gender

Dependent Variable:

Reaction time

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Ruler Size
Number Of People
Number of Turns
Time of Day

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Reaction time- time it takes for a subject to react. Formula- square root of distance dropped divided by 4,600

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General Plan

I plan to drop a ruler above someones hand and record were they caught the ruler. Then I will convert the centimeters to seconds and record that data.

Potential Problems And Solutions

• The ruler could splinter

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

• If the ruler splinters, it could get infected.

Experimental Design

Controlled, manipulated experiment

Number Of Trials:

2

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

10

When data will be collected

during the experiment

Number of Observations:

10

Where will data be collected?:

at school

Resources and Budget Table

Items	Where will you get this	Estimated cost
Poster Board	Staples	$5.00
Meter Stick	School	$0.00
Pencil	Home	$0.00
Paper	School	$0.00
Computer	School	$0.00

Data Table

Time Line

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Background Research

Females and males are different in many aspects of life. They are bought different toys as a child and treated differently. In competitive settings males tend be pushed more than females. In most studies it shows that males do have a faster reaction time. In the results of 15 studies on average, women have slightly slower reaction times than men.
What effects reaction time? Age, fitness, fatigue, illness, pre-occupation, distraction, and mood, drugs/medication, alcohol, tobacco, and poor vision are all factors that could affect reaction time.
Reaction time is the ability to respond quickly to a stimulus. A stimulus is a change in the environment. Reaction time is an important in sports and daily activities. It can be improved and it can also get slower. You can improve your reaction time by staying in shape, and practicing often.
How quickly you recognize and respond to a pitch as a baseball player is an example of reaction time. The greatest athletes have really good reaction times.

References

http://www.pwlk.net/reaction/experimental_report.pdf

http://www.psy.ed.ac.uk/people/iand/Der%20%282006%29%20Psychology%20and%20Aging%20reaction%20time%20age%20hals.pdf

Detailed Procedure

1. Gather 10 people for each gender
2. Get a yard stick
3. Put it right above the volunteers hand
4. make sure participants thumb and pointer finger are 3.5 cm apart
5. drop ruler
6. record were the person caught the ruler
7. repeat steps steps 2 to 6 for each participant
8. Average the data than convert it to seconds and compare the times for boys and girls

Diagram

Photo List

Results

All Raw Data

see data table above

Graphs

Data Analysis

I averaged the ten measurements of distance traveled (cm) for each person then I converted there average to seconds. Then I averaged all of the reaction times (seconds) for each gender. Then I graphed my data. The Average reaction time for females is slower than for males, but there is only a slight difference between the average reaction times. The average reaction times are only 3 thousandths of a second apart. The female had an average reaction time of .05251 and the males had an average reaction time of .05221...

Conclusion

The answer to my specific question "does gender effect reaction time?" is yes. My data does not support my hypothesis. My hypothesis was the females would have a faster reaction time. The average reaction times for male and female are 3 thousandth of a second difference. The males had a faster reaction time of .05211 seconds. So therefore gender does have an effect on reaction time.

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Discussion

• the relationship between the dependent and Independence variable was weak.
• my experiment could have been preformed better if when i dropped the ruler I waited so it wouldn't be as expected when it was dropped.
• this data could help athletes get a better idea of reaction time.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

My research would benefit mostly athletes.

Abstract

The reason why I chose to do this project was because of the on going feud between boys and girls about whose the better athlete? Reaction time is a big part in most sports. The question I was trying to answer was "does gender affect reaction time"... the answer was yes. I preformed my experiment by dropping a ruler and having someone catch it, then I recorded were they caught it in centimeters. I did this ten times for each person. I did ten people for each gender. I average each persons times then I converted there averages to seconds. Next I compared the boys and girls average times.